


Romances And Rivalry

by gh0st1nn1t



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders is a Sweetheart, BAMF Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Chaotic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Human Sides (Sanders Sides), Not Beta Read, Other, Piercings, Polyamory, Protective Deceit | Janus Sanders, Sibling Rivalry, Sympathetic Dark Sides (Sanders Sides), Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:07:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25809334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gh0st1nn1t/pseuds/gh0st1nn1t
Summary: College is difficult for everyone, but especially for Virgil.His best friends, his roommates Logan, Roman and Patton, have some stupid rivalry going on with Janus and Remus, who...just happen to be his boyfriends. So he juggles his studies, his secret relationship and his friendships.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit | Janus Sanders, Janus/Remus
Comments: 105
Kudos: 158





	1. I Will Shred Your Curtains Into Spaghetti! Oh Hey Babe

**Author's Note:**

> content warnings (for remus stuff)  
> -alcohol (theyre of legal age)  
> -mention of murder, but thats it, hes pretty tame in this tbh
> 
> also they do karaoke this chapter and the links to the performances theyre based off of are at the bottom, so if youre unfamilar with 'charming' from the great comet or 'take me or leave me' from rent, i suggest watching those first.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> not a very dramatic story but college au! and rivalry au! and virgil/remus/janus is a mix of my fav tropes and my fav ship so here u go lol

Virgil opened the door, juggling stacks of books, his already-full bag and his keys in his arms before staggering inside and dropping them onto the coffee table with a relieved sigh. The day had been eventful, to say the least, and all he wanted to do was see his boyfriends, but no , they just happened to be rivals with his roommates, so he was stuck there unless he snuck out or lied. He loved his roommates, really, he did, but it was exhausting hiding his relationship from them, even worse when one of his boyfriends was the brother of one of his roommates.

"You're home early," Logan remarked from his spot on the windowsill, binoculars in hand, shifting so he could face Virgil. A book on birdwatching was sat on the windowsill beside him, open right at the beginning.

"Class got dismissed early, thank fuck. I don't think I had enough energy drinks to last," Virgil snickered to himself, seeing Logan chuckle silently. "I'm going out with my family, so I'll probably be back late," he lied through his teeth. He tried to avoid lying at all costs, but if he told the truth, he'd just stir up drama, and he was not ready for that.

"Lie," Logan said simply, turning back to the window and raising his binoculars. He could feel Virgil's stunned expression from his seat. "You were biting your lip ring and clicking your fingers. Those are your tells. And you've already told me you don't contact your family," he explained simply. They often had game night, so Logan had taken to remembering their tells so he could win easier, and Virgil's were obvious as hell. 

Virgil just stood still before slumping his shoulders and waving Logan off, "Fine fine, I got a project tonight," He avoided doing any of the 'tells' that Logan recognised, grinning after seeing Logan give him a satisfied nod. He'd pulled off the lie. 

"Patton's working on an assignment and Roman said he's picking up bagels on the way home, so I suspect if you wait a few minutes you could have some," Logan informed him, not even looking away from the window.

"Thanks, Lo," Virgil nodded towards him before scooping up his stuff and heading for his room, almost bumping into Patton on the way.

"Hey Kiddo, home early?" Patton asked, smiling politely. 

"Class got cancelled. I'm going to work on a project, good luck on your assignment," Virgil shot him a grin before kicking open his door and dumping his things onto his bed, approaching his wardrobe. 

He thought it over, and realised if he dressed like he was going to party when he was supposed to be ‘studying’ for a project, he’d get called out before he could even explain himself. So he snatched an empty backpack and left it on the back of his chair, ready for him to stuff his actual outfit into it.

He dug out some simple clothes and put them on. The loose purple sweater fell to mid-thighs, covering the waistline of his baggy black ripped jeans. Plain grey scuffed sneakers covered his feet. 

Then he grabbed a bag and stuffed it with fingerless gloves, eyeliner, face glitter, spiked platform boots, a purple plaid skirt, black tights and a long-sleeve black-tinted see-through shirt with spider web patterns.

The guilt was eating at him, but if he told his roommates he was going out with the people they hated more than anyone else, god, he’d be in so much trouble. So he opted for lying. 

Virgil placed a few books on top of the clothes, to convince anyone who looked in briefly that he was actually studying. He swung the bag over his shoulder and walked out of his room once again.

Patton gave him a wave from his desk, and Logan nodded at him just as he walked past. Just as Virgil reached out for the handle, the door swung open, and he sidestepped, allowing Roman to storm in.

“Ugh! I hate my stupid brother!” He complained, setting down the bag of bagels on the desk, waving his hand at them in a simple gesture to tell the others to dig in. 

“What’d he do?” Virgil masked his amusement as he snatched a bagel from the bag, and tossed one over to Logan, who caught it perfectly.

“He sent me a picture of a massive stack of Disney movies just to brag that I didn’t have some of them,” Roman huffed, pouting like a child as he sat on one of the stools at the kitchen counter.

“That’s not that bad,” Virgil reasoned.

“Yeah, but he’s Remus, everything he does annoys me,” Roman still complained, grabbing the bag. “I’m gonna go see if Pat wants one.”

“You do that. I’m going to work on a project. I’ll be back late,” Virgil called after him before finally walking out and shutting the door behind him. 

He reached Janus’ and Remus’ apartment not long after, opting for walking instead of taking a taxi.

The door was opened by Remus, who lit up at the sight of Virgil. He wore green jeans with the knees completely torn out, revealing the fishnet tights underneath. His shirt was shiny black and cut off somewhere between his elbow and his shoulder. The shoulders of the shirt were puffed and green, dotted with black sparkles. 

“Virge! You look like a librarian’s assistant,” He commented, amused, stepping out of the way to allow Virgil to walk in.

“I told them I was working on a project, I couldn’t walk out in full nightclub gear,” Virgil smirked, shifting the books to show the clothes underneath. Remus tilted his head.

“Ah, we taught you well in the world of lying,” He ruffled Virgil’s hair with a proud expression. “Jay! Virge’s here!” He called out loudly.

Janus walked through the doorway, smoothing down his yellow button-up shirt, which was unbuttoned half-way down. It was tucked into black leather trousers. He wore vibrant yellow boots that matched the lipstick. “Hello, Virgil,” He grinned, walking towards them. 

“You know where the bathroom is, go get changed! We wanna see!”

Virgil smirked and walked in, getting changed quickly and then stuffing his other clothes into the bag before putting the glitter around his eyes and across his cheekbones before walking out.

Remus whistled, and Janus smiled.

“We’re lucky,” Janus grinned, wrapping an arm around Remus’ shoulders as they looked at Virgil.

“I know,” Remus stood up and clapped, “I’m going to go get my phone, then we can go!” He announced, before running off to the other room, kissing both Janus’ and Virgil’s cheeks on the way.

Janus extended his arms, “C’mere,” Virgil hugged him tightly, burying his face in his hair. “I missed you,” Janus admitted quietly.

“I missed you too. It sucks our only classes together have Logan, Roman  _ and  _ Patton in them,” Virgil complained, pulling away to take another look at Janus’ outfit. The three never got to spend that much time together, because they couldn’t go to Virgil’s apartment, because of the rivalry between them and his roommates, so Virgil had to either vaguely say he was going out or lie. Although when his roommates were out, they would come over, but that was rare.

Remus re-entered the room, his phone tucked into his pocket. “Let’s go!”

They went to a bar a few miles away, just far enough away that they wouldn’t stumble onto anyone they knew, and mostly for musical-related karaoke. It was also known as a safe space and had cheap alcohol. They had their ID’s in their pockets, which let them get a shit ton of alcohol from the bar in the corner, lounging around a table as they watched the karaoke going on.

“You guys should do that one RENT song,” Virgil laughed to himself, leaning on Remus’ shoulder, “You know, the ‘ Take me or leave me’ one. but like, the gay dudes version, ” He slurred slightly as he sung the lyrics, yet they understood.

“I know the choreo for the Tveit guy from the one at MCC Theatre, what about you?” Remus asked, momentarily paused from his liquor to speak.

“I learned Gavin's part,” Janus admitted with a grin, placing his wine down onto the table. “But,” He glanced at Virgil, “Only if you sing Charming from The Great Comet .”

Virgil grinned, clinking his glass against Janus’, “Gladly.”

Janus went up to the DJ and requested for him and Remus to go next, and the DJ nodded, writing their names down on the list before Janus took his seat again. “We’re up next,” he announced, chugging down the rest of his wine.

“Fuck yeah!” Remus cheered, turning to Virgil beaming, planting a drunk kiss on his cheek “You have the greatest ideas. I love you!” 

Virgil snorted, “Love you too,” he nodded at Janus, “You too.”

“And now, singing ‘Take Me Or Leave Me’ from the musical RENT is Janus Yumie and Remus Rey!” The DJ announced.

Janus leapt to his feet, grabbing Remus’ hand and dragging him up to the stage, taking the microphones from the DJ.

They were incredibly lucky that the stage already had a table and two chairs on it, otherwise they’d be lost for the choreo.

“We didn't stay and dance at the click club that night because you wanted to go home,” Remus began, grinning as he acted out the lines.

“You were flirting with the woman in rubber!” Janus shot back his line, thankful that the younger him had insisted on learning all the lines and the choreo. He gestured for the DJ to start the song. 

The backing music began as Remus continued, “Is that what this is about? There will always be women in rubber flirting with me; Give me a break!” He threw his hands up, easily transitioning into singing as the crowd of drunk people, and a cheering Virgil, laughed, “ Every single day, I walk down the street ~”

They belted most of the song perfectly, somehow not forgetting any of the choreography and not missing a single note despite being drunk off their asses. That's what happens when you're a Major in Musical Theatre. 

“I’m gone !” They sang into the same mic, before breaking apart once the music finished, jumping off of the table and bowing drunkenly. 

The crowd cheered and they were pretty sure they saw a few standing ovations, and they stumbled off of the table and back to Virgil, who they encouraged to have a go.

He agreed after a few seconds, rushing up to the DJ and requesting to sing ‘Charming’. Luckily, there were only two performances he had to wait for his turn through, so Janus and Remus gave him what they called ‘good luck kisses’ right before he went on stage.

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, we have Virgil An-Imcheist singing ‘Charming’ from ‘The Great Comet’!”

Virgil took the microphone, preparing himself, as he sang, quiet at first before transitioning into a full belt around the end.

“Oh, oh, how she blushes,” He gestured with his arm as he tilted his head back, fully belting, “ How she blushes, my pretty! Oh how she blushes, How she blushes, my pretty !” He took a breath before continuing, “Charmante, charmante! You are such a lovely thing, oh where have you been. It's such a shame to bury pearls in the country. Charmante, charmante, charming, ” He finished the belt-y part, going back to his regular voice for the remainder of the song.

He finished with one arm gesturing to the sky as he leaned backwards, belting as high as he could. Once the music finished, he stood upright, panting and grinning as he handed the microphone back, rejoining Janus and Remus, who tackled him into a hug.

“You’re awesome,” Janus slurred, hand still swirling another glass of wine.

“I know,” Virgil giggled as he stole Remus’ glass, chugging whatever was in it, and then coughing as it burned his throat, pulling a sour face as Remus laughed.

“That was pure whiskey,” He snickered, yet he still rubbed Virgil’s back as he finished coughing, scrunching up his nose at Remus with a grin.

“You have horrible taste,” Virgil complained, gratefully taking a sip from Janus’ wine which he offered out. “Janus’ is fine, Remus? Yours sucks, it tastes like acid vomit,” He slurred, giggling.

“You just have a bad tolerance, little baby Virgil, and acid vomit sounds delicious, so I don't know what you're on about,” Remus snickered to himself, words blurring together from the alcohol, and partially from the fact that he was out of breath.

Janus laughed, but pulled out his phone, “We need a taxi, we’re all wasted,” He pressed a few buttons and called an uber.

“Remus is the only one who can drive anyway," Virgil giggled.

"I got my license last week!" Janus objected, pouting.

"I knowwww, but you drive too slow," Virgil snorted.

“And Remus breaks every law to do with traffic. I swear he rivals god with how fast he drives.” 

"I brought like twenty dollars extra anyway,” he held it out, “Janus, dear, I have a gift for you,” he bowed dramatically as he feigned a posh accent, holding his hand out to reveal a crumpled bill, “Taxi money.”

“Why thank you, dearie,” Janus played along, mimicking the fancy British accent as he swiped the money. Remus was so wasted he was genuinely entertained by the encounter and wheezed as he tried to control his laughter.

The Uber picked them up not long after, driving them back to their apartment. 

“I gotta go back,” Virgil complained, pulling out his phone to check the time. “I told them I was just studying,” he changed back into his clothes, and let Remus gently wash the glitter off of his face for him. 

“You could jus’ say you’re staying at the project persons house,” Janus slurred from his place on the sofa, the empty cup of mouthwash beside him. Virgil insisted on getting the alcohol out of his breath, but he was too drunk to realise mouth spray existed, and downed a glass of mouthwash instead.

“They know I don’ stay over at other peoples houses for projects, 'specially not if I didn't tell them earlier,” Virgil groans.

“Aughhh, fine,” Remus got the last of the fallen glitter by brushing it off of Virgil's lip gently, and then threw the wipe in the trash, hoping the glitter didn’t get stuck on the bin.

Virgil let Janus sort his hair out so it was less wild night out and more intentionally rugged. Then he gave Janus a kiss, and then Remus, and then he called another Taxi, which Remus shoved a bunch of dollar bills in his hand for.

Once Virgil got back, he stood outside the door, rubbing his eyes and slapping his face to try and make himself seem more sober.

“You’re home late,” Roman noted from his place on the sofa, upside down with earphones in. He unplugged one, ready to hear Virgil’s response.

“It took longer than expected, none of us understood the topic,” He lied, grateful for Romans tendency to easily believe lies, and slipped back into his room, collapsing on top of his bed with a groan, not even bothering to change out of his clothes.


	2. Virgil And The Fortress Of Trust Issues (That Spiraled Into A Fortress Of Lies) (Whoops)

Virgil woke up with a pounding feeling inside his head, like a lion was inside of his brain and clawing its way out. He made a mental reminder to tell Remus that he’d spent so much time with him that he’d started rubbing off on him. The thought only made the pain increase, and he groaned as he sat up, rubbing his head. 

He practically stumbled out of his room, bumping into door frames and his desk before he actually got into the living room area.

All three of his roommates were sat at the kitchen counter, eating their breakfast and chatting, heads turning when Virgil entered the room, idly rubbing his head.

“You okay kiddo?” Patton asked, eyes narrowing in worry. Virgil waved him off, taking his seat between Logan and Patton, and sipping from the water that Patton had left beside his plate.

“I’m fine, Pat,” Virgil gave him a smile, taking a bite from his toast before turning back to him after noticing how he still stared at him in worry, “Seriously, Pat, it’s just a headache.”

“Hangover,” Logan corrected under his breath, turning a page in his book as he glanced at Virgil, who looked around the room to check no one else heard. Thankfully, Roman was having a conversation about Patton’s latest project.

“What? No,” Virgil hissed, before mumbling, “Maybe.”

Logan smirked, hiding his snort by itching his nose. “Knew it. You weren’t studying, were you?”

Virgil gulped, “I was studying but it got boring, I just thought a little vodka would make it go faster,” he shrugged, the itch in his head spreading over his entire body from the uncomfort of lying. 

Logan narrowed his eyes as they flickered over to Virgil’s fingers, which were toying with his earrings, “Lie,” he corrected. He glanced at Virgil’s jaw, “You were on a date.”

Virgil’s eyes widened, “How the hell-”

Logan shrugged, “A genius never reveals his secrets. Was it fun?” Virgil nodded. “Good. You don’t need to lie to us, you know that right? You could easily say you want to keep your partners identity anonymous and we wouldn’t pressure you. Well, Patton would probably want to investigate them, but otherwise we wouldn’t pressure you.”

“Thanks, Logan,” Virgil smiled at him, standing up and placing his empty dish in the sink, clinking against Roman’s. He headed towards his room, flopping face first onto his bed and groaning.

He heard footsteps, and he turned his head to look at his doorway, seeing no one but Roman, leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, a cocky smirk on his face.

“Sooooo,” Roman grinned.

“So what?”

“So who did you go out with last night?” Roman asked with a smirk, laughing at Virgil’s startled expression. “You have smeared yellow lipstick on your jaw,” he explained.

“That’s what Logan was staring at,” Virgil muttered, before the realisation hit him, “I mean… One of the people at the project was trying out a new brand of lipstick and she wanted to see if it worked on all skin tones; I guess I forgot to wash it off.”

“Right, sure, believable,” Roman said sarcastically.

“I’m telling the truth!”

“Virge, you’re a horrible liar,” He snickered, taking a seat on Virgil’s bed beside him. “If you wanna keep your secrets, fine. I mean it’s not  _ fine  _ because  _ I’m  _ the romance expert and I want to meet your partner, but let me know, was it fun?”

Virgil hesitated, before a grin broke out on his face, “It was fun as hell.”

“And the headache is a hangover?” Roman speculated.

“And the headache is a hangover,” he confirmed with a smirk.

“Right,” Roman clapped his hands once, leaping to his feet, seemingly over excited as he rocked on the balls of his feet, “I got like four cures, I’ll be back in a minute.”

Roman ran out of the room, returning moments after with 3 glasses and a small box. “Right,” He placed the white glass on the desk, “That’s milk,” Then he put down the yellow-y orange glass, “That’s raw egg yolks,” he placed down the box, “That’s headache tablets,” he put down a glass that seemed to be pure mush, “And that’s one I learned from Heathers. Hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce with salt and pepper.”

Virgil wrinkled his nose. “What was the one in the middle?”

“The headache tablets?”

“No, the other one.”

“Oh, the egg yolks?”

“Yeah, the egg yolks,” Virgil said exasperated, but with a smile, “I’m not drinking that.”

“You don’t want a hangover all day, do you?” 

Virgil sighed, grinning as he extended a hand, “Alright, gimme,” his hands closed around the glass full of yellow-y stuff. He scrunched up his nose, “Wish me luck,” he attempted a grin before chugging down the entire glass, gagging and sticking out his tongue. “That was disgusting.”

“Did it work?” 

Virgil laughed, “Not at all, now all I can taste is egg.”

Roman handed him the mush-looking mixture, “Try this.”

“Does it actually work or did you just copy it from Heathers?”

“I never tried it but I heard it worked,” Roman shrugged, handing the cup to Virgil, who chugged it again.

Virgil handed the cup back with a disgusted expression, “You’re lucky I have a good stomach or I’d be vomiting on you right now. It did work though, credit where credit is due.”

Roman passed him two headache tablets and the glass of milk. “I told you, I’m amazing.”

Virgil drank the milk with the tablets, getting rid of the funny taste in his mouth. “That’s debatable. You used me as your lab rat to see if your Heathers hangover cure worked.”

Roman grinned, “But it worked, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, it did. It’s just gross.”

Roman stuck his tongue out at him, standing up, "I got a class soon. Don't daydrink while I'm gone," Roman sang in a jokey voice as he walked out. Almost as soon as the door shut, he saw his phone start buzzing, the contact name ‘Jay : Psychology Project Partner’ appearing on screen. He answered it immediately.

"Virgil, holy shit, you gotta come over, Remus is being a hilarious dumbass," Janus could barely stop laughing as he started to speak, making a smile slip onto Virgil's face immediately.

"What's he done now?"

"You know how he has a tattoo gun? He found a design he likes and he's sat on the sofa giving himself a tattoo right now. It's fucking hilarious," Janus snickered.

“Jesus fucking christ,” Virgil attempted to restrain a laugh, “What’s the tattoo of?”

“It’s lyrics from the fucking Death Note musical with some weird fang smile underneath it,” Janus admitted.

“Hey! It’s not weird! It’s  _ demented _ !” Remus’ voice sounded further away, but Virgil still laughed.

“Yeah, I’m coming over, this sounds hilarious, I’ll be there in like, ten minutes,” Virgil put his phone on speaker, leaving it on his desk as he shrugged off his hoodie , replacing it with a ripped up purple t-shirt. 

“See you then, Virgie!” Remus’ voice called out from the background.

Virgil snickered, receiving a normal goodbye from Janus before hanging up, quickly replacing his jeans for half black, half white short-shorts with spiderweb tights underneath. 

He slipped on his sneakers, stuffed his phone in his pocket, and put in his earphones. He left his room, shutting the door behind him, blasting his music loudly as an excuse not to answer his roommates questions on where he was going. He almost bumped into Logan as he left his room, mumbling ‘sorry’ as he kept walking, heading straight for the door.

The moment he got outside, he turned down his music, as it had begun hurting his ears. The walk was fairly peaceful, if not for the wind that messed up his hair, and he got there sooner than expected.

He knocked, and Janus let him in instantly. “Oh, thank fuck you’re here, I couldn’t laugh at this dumbass by myself,” he stepped aside, gesturing to Remus, who was sat on the couch, tattoo gun buzzing as he lifted it from the back of his hand.

“The vibes in this Chili’s tonight are  _ not  _ immaculate, I’m feeling very attacked. This is homophobia,” Remus mocked offense, hand over his heart. 

“Remus, we’re all gay,” Virgil snickered, walking around the back of the sofa to catch a glimpse of 

“Well then this is heterophobia,” Remus pouted, tilting his head back to look up at Virgil.

“You’re not straight at all,” Janus reminded him, standing behind the sofa beside Virgil.

“Well then this is dumbass-phobia,” Remus returned the point of the tattoo gun to the back of his other hand, slowly going over the pen he drew the design on earlier.

“Correct,” Janus smirked, ruffling Remus’ hair. 

Remus briefly paused the tattooing to flip him off, quickly returning after a mere second. Virgil leaned over, seeing the tattoo’s outline finished.

It was the lyrics “ _ i’m cheating death with every breath _ ” with a evil grin beneath it, full of fangs.

“Looks sick,” Virgil commented, receiving a grin in response.

“It’s nice to be appreciated for once, snake boy.”

Janus snorted, “All I said was he should’ve gotten a potato chip tattooed with the dialogue from the potato chip scene.”

“And it felt like a personal attack, because I don’t like potato chips,” Remus pouted, concentrating on inking the design.

“But you have a tattoo of a guitar and you don’t even play it,” Virgil reminded him.

“This feels like a personal attack, how can I ever carry on! Such betrayal,” Remus pretended to faint. 

The trio hung out for the remainder of the day, laughing and messing around, teasing Remus about looking like something from the frozen isle in a grocery shop with his entire hand wrapped in cellophane. Virgil begrudgingly returned home later that day.

He tried to force the smile off of his face, knowing his roommates would catch on if he came home all giggly.

The moment he opened the door, he saw Logan sitting at the kitchen island, laptop in front of him. He turned his head to face Virgil, expression unreadable. 

He deadpanned. “I understand why you withheld your partners identities now.”


	3. Confrontation Is Scary. And Fish. Fish Are Fucking Terrifying

Virgil froze up, feeling his blood run cold. “What are you talking about?” Instantly, he fell into a defensive pose, arms folded, prepared to walk right back out the door.

Logan looked back up at him, confusion evident on his face. He shifted his rectangular glasses slightly. “I didn’t falter, did I? I said I understand why you chose to withhold your partners identities.”

“How-” 

“I overheard you on the phone. I had been walking past to return Patton’s book. And you’re wearing Janus’ jacket,” he remarked, gesturing to the black baggy bomber jacket with snakes sewn into the sleeves.

“Truly, it wasn’t hard to put together.” 

“You’re not mad?” Virgil asked, unconsciously holding the jacket tighter. 

Logan narrowed his eyes. “Why should I be?” 

“Because you all hate each other? I remember Roman explicitly saying that he refused to share any friends with Remus, and that Patton said their presence made him feel uneasy. So why are you okay with it?” 

“You three are consenting grown men. My opinion on the matter should be of no importance, as it is none of my business. Your relationships are your choice, not mine,” he shrugged, returning to his typing. 

“That’s...not what I expected. Thank you, Logan,” Virgil said sincerely, offering a half-smile. 

“No problem, Virgil. I will not tell the others, if that's what you wish,” Logan waited for Virgil's response, getting a simple nod, “Understood. If you want to see them, but don’t want to tell the others, I can make up an excuse for you, if you so wish. If I may ask, how long?” 

Virgil fidgeted with his hands, “Quite a while. It’ll be one and a half years next week.” 

“And you’re happy?” 

Virgil thought back to the three of them giggling on the couch earlier, Janus throwing pillows at them while they tried to hit them away with tennis rackets and failed miserably. He nodded, a faint smile ghosting his face. 

“Then it’s none of my business. I truly hope it turns out well. I can return his jacket if you wish, as we share a class tomorrow morning.”

“Thanks, Logan,” Virgil shrugged it off, folding it neatly and placing it on the counter beside his laptop.

“Goodnight, Virgil,” Logan nodded, returning to his laptop silently.

Virgil walked back to his room, almost immediately pulling his phone out to text the others.

_**emo with a tim burton obsession :** hjsjksahdkjashd logan found out-_

_**stinky rat trash man** : holy shit _

_**s** **nake face** : howd it go??? _  
****

_**emo with a tim burton obsession** : surprisingly well???? he was pretty chill about it ngl _  
_**emo with a tim burton obsession :** he literally said ‘cool idc ill make excuses for u if u wanna go out’ and that was it djjhfkjsdhf _  
****

_**stinky rat trash man** : i hate him slightly less now thats iconic _  
****

_**snake face** : thats it???? um, why is logan actually pretty cool- jsdkhhsjhj _

_**emo with a tim burton obsession :** the others would go apeshit if they found out lmao _  
****

_**stinky rat trash man** : imagine the look on romans face when he realises that ur going out with his disowned brother jhsjfkhsd _  
****

_**snake face** : when u tell him u better take a picture and send it to us _  
****

_**emo with a tim burton obsession** : i 100% will lmao, literally yesterday he was ranting about how he refuses to share a mutual friend with either of you _  
_**emo with a tim burton obsession** : and i just sort of sat there eating the bagel quietly trying not to laugh hjhsdjhdfjs i looked like this >:))))) _  
****

_**stinky rat trash man** : u probably looked constipated lol thats what ur concentrating face AND ur holding back laughter faces look like lmao, they probably thought u were ill or smth sjhdjs _  
****

_**emo with a tim burton obsession** : honestly? they probably did lmao _  
****

_**snake face** : or they thought u were going insane lol _  
****

_**emo with a tim burton obsession** : they probably did lmao and they wouldnt be far off, this psychology class is driving me mad _  
****

_**stinky rat trash man** : thats the exact opposite of what its meant to do- love that lmao _  
****

_**snake face** : college sucks lmao this law degree will be the death of me _  
****

_**stinky rat trash man** : might drop out and become a ~exotic dancer~, lmao we’ll see how the next theatre class goes _  
****

_**emo with a tim burton obsession :** i dont think u need any qualifications for it either lmao _  
****

_**stinky rat trash man :** the perfect job for me!! _  
****

_**snake face :** no ones gonna question why virgil knows how to become a stripper or--- _  
****

_**emo with a tim burton obsession** : it was 4 am and i was curious on how strippers got their jobs oKAY- _  
_**emo with a tim burton obsession** : this is a ~personal attack~ _  
_**emo with a tim burton obsession** : the vibes we have created in this group chat are not immaculate _  
****

_**snake face** : i feel ~attacked~ _  
****

_**stinky rat trash man** : someone needs to vibe check u both hjshakjdh_


	4. Uh Oh Spaghetti-O's

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i was listening to yungblud and mother mother and my hands kept stimming so writing was hard lol

Virgil thought it was fucking hilarious.

  
As he slouched on the sofa, listening to Roman’s newest rant about how ‘disgustingly wicked’ Janus and Remus were, he bit back a smirk. Patton was sat beside Roman, agreeing with everything he said and grumbling about Janus upstaging him in Law class constantly.

  
“-I mean, who would ever fall for their ridiculous disguise? Everyone thinks they’re cool bad boys but Remus is deranged and Janus is a compulsive liar! They’re pure sin!” Roman ridiculed, leaning back into his seat and pouting like a baby.

Patton nodded vigorously, “Exactly! Why would they constantly go out of their way to annoy us!? Plus I’ve heard them talk about us behind our backs!”

  
Virgil had to bite back a remark about how that was exactly what THEY were doing but knew that if he came to their defense he would probably get kicked out.

  
Virgil scrolled through his photos app to calm himself, clicking on a video with a familiar thumbnail. It was a few years old, filmed inside of a tattoo and piercing parlor a few streets down that was eventually demolished. Remus had a lot of piercings, but he had done all of them himself, and after he failed to properly pierce his septum, he agreed to go to a professional.

  
Virgil’s shaky camerawork showcased the needle gently piercing the skin of the inside of his nose, and how Remus scrunched up his face, mumbling “Hot fucking diggity dogs!” in a shitty mickey mouse impression. The camera became shaky as Virgil and Janus collapsed on top of each other, trembling with laughter. 

After that, they'd promised to record every time Remus got a piercing, just to see what dumb shit he would yell.

Their favorite was when Remus got his tongue pierced, and he yelled ‘shiver me timbers!’ in a crappy, lispy pirate voice.

A close second was when he got his snake piercings, and he yelled ‘Ooga Booga!’ and ‘kacchow!’. Then there was the time he got an industrial piercing, and he muttered ‘toot’ in a kids voice, and then ‘oh, crunchy!’ at the second one. 

It was one of their favorite things to do whenever Remus got a piercing because it wasn't even intentional, he just yelled whatever he was thinking at that moment. It was fucking great. 

One of their favorites took place in the bathroom at 2 am, the camera held by Janus as he and Virgil sat on the bathtub. It showed Remus’ face scrunch up, yelling “Holy fucking Zoinks!” in a squeaky, shitty Velma impression, the moment the needle pierced his eyebrow. The camera became ten times shakier as the other two burst into laughter, Janus holding his stomach as he wheezed, eyes scrunching up as he tried not to cry from laughter. 

Virgil smiled down at his phone, the pure happiness from those moments floating back.

Evil? He doubted that.

Virgil glanced towards Logan, who also seemed to be holding back laughter due to irony. He airdropped the video to Logan with the caption “Roman: ‘They’re despicable!’ Them:”. He saw Logan turn the audio on, and was glad Logan already had his headphones on. Logan sent him a disguised grin, silently laughing. Roman noticed and pouted. 

"Are you two laughing at me?! You better not be friends with...them!" Roman crossed his arms, leaning back into his chair sulkily. Patton's face twisted in betrayal as he shifted away from the other two.

"Yeah!" He echoed.

"No, I'm just showing Logan that video of the sheep that I showed you the other day," Virgil shot back a response, not even hesitating to shoot out a lie. Roman seemed to get distracted from his original point as his eyes lit up.

"The one where it falls onto its face? Oh! I loved that one!" Roman grinned, beginning to speak again when his phone buzzed, screen flashing with a reminder. "Oh, shit, we're late for class!"

The remainder of the day was fairly calm, Virgil lying once again about having to continue his project. Except Patton stopped him at the door, a questioning look painting his face. 

"Who exactly are you doing the project with? Nearly all of your classes have at least one of us in, and no one else has a project! Which class is it for? Why hasn't anyone else done this project? Who else is in your class?" Patton furrowed his brows in an inquisitive manner. Virgil felt sweat bead at his forehead, mind racing in a desperate attempt to fumble out a lie.

Logan seemed to overhear and interjected. "Ah, that would be me," He lied smoothly, standing beside Virgil. "This is for our psychology class with Professor Higgins. I'm doing said project separately as I have been excused to do it alone, for reasons obvious to you all. Virgil, however, was stuck with the 'popular' people in the class, so I doubt they will like you holding him back much longer with your accusatory questions," he raised an eyebrow, and Patton sighed, mumbling an apology and leaving.

Virgil smiled at Logan, "Thanks," he said sincerely.

"I said I would lie for an excuse, did I not?" Despite his serious words, a smirk ghosted his face and his eyebrow quirked in amusement. Virgil grinned, "Now go, don't want to be much later for your 'project', do you?"

Virgil waved to Logan as he darted out of the apartment, not wanting to be held for interrogation any longer, and began rushing over to Janus and Remus' apartment. The wind brushed through his baggy sleeve-less shirt, rustling his hair and squeaking his Doc Martens. The leather jacket tied around his waist flew behind him, mimicking a cape. They weren't going out again, so he didn't need to dress fancy or anything like that. He arrived at their door in a matter of minutes, being let in by Remus as Janus was preparing dinner. 

They practically lept onto the sofa, merely chatting as they waited for Janus to finish. The first thing Virgil did was laugh about the encounter. 

  
"He fully interrogated me! He was so suspicious, it was so fucking funny," Virgil snorted. "He was like 'Grr! Which class is this! Who are you working with! Do you have any evidence!' It was so dramatic!"

Remus snickered loudly, "I'm convinced he's the most superstitious person ever. Including you, which is a hard standard to beat. How did he even let you go?"

Virgil sat up straighter, grinning mischievously, "You'll never believe it! Fucking Logan lied to Patton's face! He said he was doing the project alone because of his autism and that I was doing it with the 'popular' kids so I couldn't be late. I think Patton was too scared to say anything dodgy about his autism so he just sort of backed off, it was great," Virgil wheezed, remembering the torn expression on Patton's face.

Then he wanted to check Remus' tattoo, as it had darkened a lot more than before. Or so he assumed, as Remus had decided to go with the ink-pouch route for recovery rather than cling film. Remus kept poking the tattoo area, all the remaining ink being pushed around the little pouch, Virgil scrunching up his nose every time he did so.

"Doesn't that hurt?" He asked.

Remus snorted loudly, "Nope! it's just the extra ink being pushed around, not the ink from the tattoo. I think I don't know, I didn't do much research, I just saw a funny squishy ink pouch and followed the instructions. Sweet, innocent little Virgil, have you never had a tattoo?"

Virgil raised his eyebrows in amusement, showing off the sleeves of tattoos that covered his arms, his sleeveless shirt coming in handy. "Are you blind?"

They faintly heard Janus laugh to himself in the kitchen behind them. "Not what I meant," Remus objected, playfully punching Virgil's shoulder. "Have you never had an ink pouch? They're like little squid ink things!" He guided Virgil's hand to poke the clingfilm on the back of his hand.

"Ew!" He tugged his hand back, "Why does the ink feel like that?!" He stuck his tongue out at Remus, who was laughing at him. 

"You're literally considering a mortician as a career option and you can't even touch an ink pouch?"

Janus leaned against the half-wall separating the living room and kitchen, grinning "This food is burnt to shit, I'm ordering take out."

The three enjoyed themselves for the remainder of the day, joking around and mocking the shitty TV programs and screaming the answers to the gameshows they watched. Virgil ended up returning home at around 11:30 with a slice of pizza for Logan to thank him for earlier.


	5. The Truth Is Gay : It's Coming Out

Virgil, Logan, and Roman had been watching a TV show before an alarm went off to remind Virgil and Roman that they had class. The two quickly packed up their stuff, waving goodbye to Logan, who's class didn't begin for hours, and rushed out, splitting up at the gates as they headed in completely different directions. Virgil barely made it to his Social Studies class on time, apologizing with a silent nod, and hurrying to his seat, scavenging in his bag to dig out his laptop to begin taking notes. He barely noticed how some of his classmates seemed to have their eyes glued onto him, dismissing it as his mind playing tricks on him as usual.

He paid attention in the lecture, ending up with 3 pages of notes and a draft for an essay. He left the room pleasantly surprised with the amount of work he'd done in a short time, especially since he was late at first too. 

Across campus, Roman was sat in his group of friends, molding a clay block into the reference that had been hung at the front of the class. Across the classroom, he could hear Remus laughing with one of his friends as they sculpted mini dicks from the spare clay. He scoffed, leaning back into his chair as he took a break, deciding to chat for a few minutes. One of his friends, Emile, pulled out his phone, showing Roman a series of Snapchat videos that were trending on Twitter. Apparently, everyone was searching for these three people from a video.

The first video was two men on stage, more specifically, Janus and Remus on stage, laughing as they stumbled around in a drunk effort into doing the choreography. Janus gripped the microphone, yellow lipstick smudged slightly as he jumped around the stage, followed by a wasted Remus, who's words were slurred, despite still sounding good while singing, captioned **_ 'I LOVE THESE TWO OMG SOMEONE HELP ME FIND THEM'!!! I WASNT LISTENING WHEN THE DJ SAID THEIR NAMES." _ ** The pair seemed to be having a blast as they enacted the choreography, nowhere near sober at all.

The next was a dressed-up Virgil leaning back into his seat, snorting and laughing as he watched, muttering amusedly to himself captioned ' **_ THIS DUDE IS DOING COMMENTARY ON HIS FRIENDS PERFORMANCE THEY R ICONIC LMAOOO _ ** '. Virgil's tattoos were showing beneath his see-through shirt, buried beneath the pile of necklaces and chokers he wore.

There was also one where was Virgil on stage, stumbling as some of the wine spilled from his glass as he sang, giggling every few seconds when he caught his boyfriends' eyes in the audience, the caption reading ' **_ BRO HOW R THEY ALL GOOD SINGERS I FEEL ATTACKED' (ALSO I LISTENED THIS TIME, THIS DUDES CALLED TWIRGIL OR SMTH) _ ** " Virgil was singing a song from The Great Comet, a musical he ranted about to Roman constantly.

The final one was them three leaving the bar, Janus leaning on Virgil's shoulder, completely wasted, Remus surprise-attacking Virgil's head with kisses every few seconds, all of them barely able to stand upright; they all had lovesick grins on their faces, mixing with their drunk expressions. The image was titled,' NO THEY LEFT B4 I ASKED FOR THEIR SOCIALS SOMEONE HELP ME FIND THEM"

Roman sat there, staring down at the screen in shock. Emile pointed to the strangely-dressed man in green on stage, "That's your brother, isn't it? Your brothers trending on Twitter! Go congratulate him or something!"

"Disowned brother who I haven't had a real conversation with...in at least a year, who seems to be dating my roommate who swears he hates them," Roman corrected, eyes still fixed to the final image, Virgil seemingly at home in their arms. The silence only lasted seconds, speaking up, "You know what? Send me those videos," Roman shot Emile a mischievous grin as the bell rang, signaling for them to either have their free period or go to another class. Roman got up silently, swung his bag over his shoulder, and left, not even bothering to pack up his stuff or say goodbye to his friends. 

He sat on a bench at the back of campus, earphones in as he tried to clear his mind, attempting to work out what the hell was going on, and why Virgil was...hanging out with THEM. A familiar voice erupted not too far behind him, and turned on his phone camera, facing forwards so he could see behind him. What he saw made him want to punch something. He took out his earphones so he could still hear.

Remus was hugging Virgil, swinging him around in a circle, and beaming, excitedly showing the mini clay creations he'd made instead of doing the project. One of them was a mini tentacle that he was planning on painting green and adding to his collection of octopus based items.

"Hey!" Virgil snickered as Remus twirled him around, crushing him in a tight hug, "Careful! You're gonna break my back!" Despite his words, he was giggling still. Remus seemed to put him down carefully, despite Virgil being taller than him. They were too far away to hear what they were saying after they'd began talking quietly, except a few lines, talking about how easily they'd believed him when he snuck out to see his boyfriends, but both of them seemed to be laughing, and eventually, Virgil kissed Remus' forehead, and Remus offered a piggy-back, both of them just messing around and having fun during their free period. 

Roman clenched his fists, fury bubbling up inside him. Virgil had promised not to go near them, he'd VOWED he'd stay away from Remus because Roman warned him hundreds of times about how toxic his 'brother' could be. Virgil had SWORN he'd steer clear of the two. But he didn't give a shit about what Roman told him. 

He stood up, jostling his earphones back in and storming back towards the apartment. Thunder crackled in the sky, lightning shooting its rage down around him. A pissed-off expression settled onto his face, the irony of the weather matching his mood making him furious for some reason.

He practically punched the door off of its hinges as he burst into the apartment, showing Logan sat on top of the windowsill staring out at the rain. 

"Are you...feeling adequate?" 

Roman shot him a piercing glare. "What does it fucking look like?" He practically growled his words, storming into his room, and slamming the door. 

The moment Patton returned, Logan seemed to have told him about Roman's state, as he knocked on the door, Roman letting him in.

"Logan said you were upset, thought you'd want to talk," Patton smiled politely, handing a small plate of cookies to Roman as he sat on the bed beside him. "What happened, Roman?"

Roman pulled out his phone, opening the latest texts from Emile, containing the three Snapchat images, showing them to Patton.

"Is that...?"

"Virgil. Who swears he hates both of them. This is where he was when he said he was doing that fucking project," he grumbled. Patton's face twisted into anger.

"That- that...liar!" He yelled, swiping to see the final image, where he was kissing Remus and hugging Janus. 

"Not even just lying about being their friend. He's in some weird-ass relationship with them both. He's always been a greedy bitch," Roman complained. 

"He gets back tonight, I'm talking to him about it. He can't get away with lying to us like this. He should...he should be kicked out!"

"Is that allowed?" Roman asked, "I'm fully on board with kicking him out, but is that even allowed?"

"I'm a law student, I'm sure I can figure something out," Patton nodded to Roman. "You try and calm down, I'm speaking to him later, and telling him he has the rest of the day to pack up his shit and leave," the swear fell easily from Patton's lips, sharing Roman's anger towards Virgil.

The two had agreed not to tell Logan about it, and to say that Virgil got evicted because he didn't pay his part of the rent. That way, Logan wouldn't have to get angry about Virgil dating them as Roman and Patton had. They saw it as sparing Logan from the truth, and they sat on the sofa, watching shitty TV as they worked on their own mini homework projects, simply waiting for Virgil to return. Logan had retreated into his own room a few moments before they entered the living room, needing to do his homework in peace and quiet.

Every time anyone walked past their door, both of their heads would snap up, expecting it to be Virgil. But it had just turned 9 pm when Virgil entered, bag slung over his shoulders, grinning and greeting them happily, oblivious to the chaos about to happen.


	6. Uh Oh Spaghetti-Os PT.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lol got ill so i got the day off school so i just slept n wrote shit lmao

Virgil could barely wipe the love-sick grin off of his face as he walked towards the shared apartment. The day before, Janus confided in Virgil and Remus that his mental health had started slipping, so they’d planned on taking Janus for a fun day out to try and improve his mood. He’d skipped class that day to go to a trampoline park with Remus and Janus, and they’d been bouncing around and play fighting for hours, stopping briefly in the food court to get slushies and cake. After that, they’d gone to the skatepark next door, and raced each other until the sun went down. Janus had been grinning and laughing the entire time, so they considered it a successful mission.

Virgil wrapped his hands around the cold doorknob, twisting it open, forcing his smile down as he entered, not wanting to risk giving anything away. He gripped the handle of his bag, attempting to keep the warm fluttery feeling hidden. 

“So? How was class?” Patton asked, turning from his spot in front of the TV, Roman sat beside him. 

“Boring. Dumbass Professor set more homework, as if the project wasn’t enough,” Virgil groaned, a lie easily slipping out as he approached the fridge, pulling out a water bottle and almost chugging it.

“Why did you bring your skateboard to class?” Roman questioned, seeing it sticking out of Virgil’s bag.

“It was raining? I wanted to get there quicker. What's with all the questions?” Virgil narrowed his eyes, biting on his lip ring and tugging on his earring. He leaned against the pillar separating the kitchen and living room, anxiety replacing the previous warm happy feeling.

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Patton glanced at Roman, gesturing to the front door. He waited for Roman to lock it before continuing, “Except we’ve found out a little secret of yours.”

Virgil laughed nervously, “That my hair isn’t naturally purple? Good going, Sherlock,” he fought the nerves with sarcasm. 

“Less in the cosmetics area, more in the romance area,” Patton hummed to himself. “Anything to tell us?” Roman asked, leaning against the now locked front door.

Virgil's hand crept to his phone, which should’ve been in his pocket, instead, he found nothing more than wrappers and shreds of paper. As he looked up, he saw Roman holding it, dangling it in his hand. “What is this?”

“It’s nothing, we’re just trying to ask you some friendly questions!” Roman grinned falsely.

“It feels more like an interrogation,” Virgil fake yawned, “Can I go to my room now?”

“Why won’t you answer the question? You got any secrets you’d like to tell us now?” Patton’s cutesy smile was becoming more and more sinister by the second.

“No, not really. Ooh! Maybe that I’m naturally a blonde and I dyed my hair pink with kool aid when I was 9, or that I got a stick n poke tattoo by one of my friends in a McDonalds when I was 14. Or that I accidentally stole a shop basket once and got scared and left it under a bridge. Or! Or the time I tried to smoke to look cool and had to go to the ER because I couldn’t breathe. It could also be stash of Monster Energy underneath my bed, please tell me you guys haven’t stolen that,” Virgil had begun to ramble, hoping that the flood of secrets would make them forget the original one.

“None of those, no,” Patton giggled, not even shaken by the swarm of secrets. “Here, I’ll take pity and we’ll give you a hint,” he glanced at Roman.

“It just might be something to do with a certain someone I’m sadly related to,” Roman tutted, “You seriously haven’t put it together yet?”

“Is this about the time I accidentally spoiled The Umbrella Academy for your brother? I already told him I’m sorry!” Virgil held his hands up in surrender.

Patton could easily see through his lies, and the polite, soft smile from earlier melted into a sneer. “This is getting boring now. Stop playing dumb. We know about your weird little relationship with Janus and Remus.” 

Virgil paled considerably. “What- what are you two talking about? Hey, where’s Logan?” he glanced down the hallway, silently praying Logan would walk in and interrupt.

“Stop trying to distract us. We know. You can’t ignore that,” Roman yelled, “Why have you been lying to us?!” He balled his fists, dropping Virgil’s phone onto the wooden floor, cracking the screen harshly.

“I-I haven’t!” Virgil backed up, fear widening his eyes.

“We have videos, photos, we know, Virgil,” Patton stood up from the sofa, slowly approaching. “Why did you lie?”

Virgil’s words got stuck in his throat as burning tears welled up in his eyes. He felt like he was being roasted from the inside out, but he refused to wipe away the flaming tears that silently slipped down his cheeks, not wanting to show weakness.

“Not only are you dating the TWO people who we’ve warned you about non stop, since they’re both psychopathic, you’re in some weird three-way relationship with them,” Patton shouted, making Virgil flinch back.

“With my DISOWNED BROTHER and his insane best friend too!” Roman bellowed. 

“What- What- I- I didn’t- I don’t-” Virgil blubbered, words shaky as he trembled.

“Where were you really today?” Patton asked, face returning to its calm manor. 

“I-I- My- My- Lectures- I was- I-” Virgil insisted, an agonising feeling of sickness swirling around in his stomach.

“So going out on a date and skipping school was a lecture?” Patton asked, a furious look on his usually kind face.

“I- I didn’t- I-I-”

“So lying to us non stop was working on a project?”

“No! I-”

“So blatantly hurting us was just ‘doing homework’?”   
“I- No! Stop! I-”

“Why do you keep lying? Is that all you are now? A liar? Is your real name even Virgil?”

“I- Ple-please sto-sto-stop-”

“We don’t even know you anymore! All we know are the lies you keep repeating.”

“No!” Virgil yelled, hands cupped over his ears, face distraught. “You- You guys do kn-know me! I-I-I’ve lived wi-with you-you all for over-ov-over two ye-year-years!” Virgil stumbled backwards, terror clenching his heart.

“No. No we don’t. All you do is lie to us,” Roman yelled.

“We can’t take any more lies, Virgil. You understand, right?” Patton frowned.

“I- No- I- What-”

“You understand why we have no choice but to kick you out?” Patton continued, watching as Virgil’s skin drained into pure white, a hopeless look painted onto his face. The tears that had slowed to a stop started again, as Virgil pleaded.

“No- no- please-” He begged, hands clasped together, “I won’t li-lie, I-I swear! Pl-Please ju-just don’t kick-kick me o-out!” He sobbed, frozen in place as a blinding pain shot through his face. His head was knocked back, looking into the mirror at the end of the hallway. He gingerly touched the quickly darkening red bruise covering his cheek, the shock of the slap rendering him speechless.

He was unsure which of them did it, but both of them showed no remorse, and even looked slightly proud.

“You have until the morning to pack your shit and leave,” Roman sneered. 

“But- No- Please- I- No! I-” Virgil begged.

Patton yawned, glancing back at Roman with a smirk, “If you’re worried about somewhere to say, I’m sure your precious little trustworthy boyfriends will let you stay with them.”

Roman immediately continued, “Unless, oh no!” He faked gasped, “You don’t really trust them as much as you say! Oh well, too late now, I guess, they’ll just abandon you now, and you’ll be stuck alone, like you should be.”

“We’ve taken the liberty of packing nearly all of your stuff. All you gotta do is leave,” Patton grinned.

Virgil couldn’t even muster up the motivation to stutter out objections, instead stumbling to his feet, “S-so, I have t-to be out b-by m-morning?”   
“Mhm, so you’d better get packing,” Patton grinned, walking back into his room with Roman. Virgil stood in the hallway momentarily, tears still cascading down his cheeks. He walked towards the front door, kneeling down and picking up his shattered phone, glitched lines flickering across the screen as he struggled to even get it working. He hunched over, tears dripping onto the floor.

He opened his door, seeing the almost empty room filled with nothing but boxes, and the realisation hit him.


	7. Brain Go Brrrrr

When Logan awoke in the morning, he could already feel that something was off. Everything seemed the same, but as if all the furniture had been shifted 3cm to the left. It was so noticeable but it just felt different than usual. Not only that, but he’d woken up at 4am, which was so much earlier than usual. He opened the door to his room, and the worried pit in his stomach sunk deeper, because he couldn’t find the cause for everything feeling weird. 

He approached the kitchen, turning on the coffee machine habitually, leaning against the counter and yawning, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. That’s when his eyes fell onto the fragment of glass on the floor. His brows furrowed, finding nothing around him that could’ve possibly broken. He knelt down, picking it up and leaving it on the side, deciding to dismiss it for now, planning on asking whoever woke up first, which was usually Patton.

Just as he thought that, Roman walked down the hallway, hand covering his mouth as he yawned. “Morning, Logan,” he mumbled, clearly still half-asleep. It was unsual for Roman to be awake earlier than 9am. His night classes didn't start until next term anyway, so he had no reason to be dressed and walking around 5 hours early.

“You’re not usually awake this early,” Logan observed, taking a sip of his coffee, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, do you know what that’s from?” He gestured to the shard of glass. 

“Oh, Virgil’s phone broke,” Roman answered immediately, grabbing a water bottle from the fridge, taking a seat on one of the stools at the counter, beginning to scroll through his phone. The way he spoke was casual, but there was an eerie undertone, coming from the fact that he was lying mixed with how fast he shot out the response.

Logan’s suspicions raised, “And he left the glass on the floor? That doesn’t sound like him…”

Roman snorted loudly, a smirk gracing his face as he begun muttering under his breath, barely audible to Logan, who was half-way across the room, “Clearly you don’t know him as well as you thought either.” 

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” Logan furrowed his brows, putting down the coffee, unable to keep drinking as his worry spiked even higher.

Roman sighed, turning off his phone and leaving it on the counter, a serious look fell onto his face, gesturing towards the chairs on either side of him before clasping his hands on top of the counter, “Sit down, you’ll need to.”

“No, I’m perfectly comfortable here, thanks,” Logan was on edge, his panic skyrocketing, “Get on with it,” he snapped.

Roman scoffed, “Rude, but okay. We found out Virgil was hiding something from us, so we looked and-”

“Who’s us in this scenario?”

“Me and Patton. Anyway, we looked and we found out he was in some weird group relationship with Remus AND Janus. He denied it, but we had proof. He left after that, said he would go move in with Janus and Remus,” Roman shrugged, taking a sip of his water after that, clearly unaffected by the news.

“He left?” Logan searched Roman’s face for his lying tells. Avoiding eye contact, check, hands folded with the left one on top, check, a slight pout, check. “He didn’t leave, did he.” It wasn’t a question, Logan had connected the dots, it was more of an accusation.

“Well, we kicked him out is more like it,” Roman snickered to himself.

A look of horror dawned onto Logan’s face, “You...you kicked him out because he was in a consenting relationship with two other grown adults? Seriously? You know what, I can’t deal with this right now,” And with that, Logan grabbed his phone, storming down the hallway. He knocked on Virgil’s door, expecting him to open it. Instead, Roman’s voice came echoing down the hall.

“What are you doing? He got kicked out last night so he left last night!”

“That...That’s illegal,” Logan muttered to himself as he opened the door, finding nothing but an empty room, and he was even more horrified. There was just the bedframe and the mattress along with empty shelves and a clean desk. On the mattress, there was a note.

_“im sorry. i never meant to hurt anyone, im so sorry, im going to janus and remus’ if anyone actually cares. logan, i know youre going to be the only one who cares enough to read this. so thank you for all you did. im going to their apartment until i can find my own place. bye.”_

There were dried water droplets on the paper, and the writing was shaky. He returned to his room, locking the door. He scrolled down the contacts list, pressing on Virgil’s and listening to the ringing noise. There was no reply. He scrolled through the hundreds of contacts, damning his self for not remembering if he’d added Janus and Remus’ contacts or not. Virgil had given him their numbers as a ‘just in case’, but he couldn’t remember if he’d gotten around to adding them or not. 

Thank god, he had. He clicked Janus’, sending him a hurried message, “ _ **It’s Logan, is Virgil at yours currently**?_” He shut off his phone, leaning against his bed and taking deep breaths. Moments later, his phone buzzed with a response. His eyes shot down to the screen, reading the response.

_**“No, why?”** _

His heart dropped. 

_**“The other two found out and kicked him out last night. He left a note claiming he was going to yours.”** _

_**“Shit. I’ll try and call him.”** _

Janus was pacing back and forth through the apartment. 

He hadn’t been able to sleep, but he didn’t want to bother Remus, so he sat in the living room watching TV. His phone suddenly buzzed, and he expected it to be Virgil, who had been diagnosed with insomnia and was prone to texting either their groupchat whenever he couldn’t sleep.

Instead, it was from Logan, asking if Virgil was at his place. Janus said he wasn’t, and that’s when Logan told him that the others had kicked him out. Janus immediately scrolled onto Virgil’s number, and saw that he had been online ten minutes ago. He pressed call, but there was no response. 

_**“virgil please pick up”  
** _

_**“virgil im worried”  
** _

_**“you dont even have to respond fully just tell me youre okay please”** _

_**“virgil”** _

_**“please”** _

_**"virgil im begging u pls let me know ur okay"** _

_**"even if you could just respond with a hi or let me know youve seen these messages thatd be enough"** _

_**"im really worried virge please"** _

_**"please"** _

_**"please"** _

Janus stared down at the screen, praying Virgil responded or at least saw the texts. Instead he was met with silence.  
  


Virgil, however, was hours away, in a hand-me-down car, knuckles white as he grasped the steering wheel. Tears flooded down his cheeks, breathing coming out in fast, irregular patterns. He checked the old broken screen, making sure his location services were off. He knew the others would be trying to contact his real phone instead of the old shattered one that barely worked that he’d grabbed before running out. The calls and texts still came through, because it was connected to the same number, and Janus’ begging was almost enough to make him turn round, and go to sob to them.

No.

He dug his foot into the gas pedal, the wind whipping through his hair from the cracked-open windows. Music screamed into the open air around him, a weak attempt to distract him from his thoughts. All it did was give him a mild headache, as he cranked it up to full volume. He sped down the highway, thankful that nearly all of the other cars had decided to call it a day and left him alone. He ran a hand over his face, clearing away the tears momentarily as he sped up even further.

He knew it was a horrible idea, running away, he was going to make them all think he was dead and they’d panic and it’d be all his fault and- No. No, he was an adult, he reminded himself, taking a deep breath, he was an adult, if he wanted to up and leave, there was nothing anyone could do. 

He knew no one. Literally no one. Everyone he knew was back at the college. He’d never had any childhood friends he could beg to crash at their place for the night. Both his parents were orphans, so there were no relatives he could ask to stay with. He’d had one friend in middle school, and they died in a freak accident the day before high-school, and their family refused to talk to him. There was absolutely no one he could rely on. Not an old friend he’d drifted apart from, not a distant aunt who could watch over him, not the family of his friends, not even an acquaintance. It was just him, half of his shit in the trunk, his beat up car and his barely-working phone.

He was drained. The fight had taken everything out of him, but seeing his boyfriends pleading messages seemed to force even more energy out. He was ready to collapse and sleep in the back seat of his car, but he couldn’t. The highway wouldn’t have a road to turn off onto for another hour. 

The energy drink cans in his front seat were the only things keeping him awake, along with the old, weirdly crunchy packet of cigarettes he’d forgotten in the glove compartment three years ago. He was shocked the store clerk had sold him the twenty energy drinks he’d bought in the state he was in, trembling violently, eyeliner smeared down his face, a dark bruise covering his cheek. 

A queasy feeling seemed to choke him as the realisation hit him, he began slowing down slightly, grasping the steering wheel tightly. Janus’ latest text consisted of him practically screaming for Virgil to at least let him know that he wasn’t dead, that he hadn’t tried to make it out on his own and got murdered, or crashed, or-

Virgil shook his head, no, he couldn’t respond to them, it would just make it worse. That’s when a facetime request came up, and he squeezed his eyes shut tightly momentarily, returning to stare at the road as his phone buzzed and rang for what seemed like hours.

Janus wouldn’t give up, the texts never ceased, neither did the calls, only for a few minutes, around 10 minutes after they’d first started. When they restarted, it wasn’t only Janus, but Remus too. Then Logan started. And suddenly all three of them were pleading for him to return. 

It was all getting too much. It had been five hours since he left, only thirty minutes since his last stop to refill his gas. The texts had started an hour ago, but Virgil didn’t want to respond, he didn’t have the energy. The fact that he’d somehow forced himself to continue driving was a miracle to him.

The latest text caught his eye, and it was one of Remus’, reading  **_“virgil im literally begging you right now where the fuck are you me and janus have been looking around for ages we even checked that one dirty ass statue place you wanted to visit three years ago let us come help you please please please please you know i get worried please virgil”_ **

Virgil realised what kind of thoughts Remus meant. The trio knew Remus struggled heavily with intrusive thoughts, and they got worse whenever he panicked. He’d told Virgil once that every time either him or Janus walked out the door his mind started providing him with possibilities that they’d die while being away from him. The guilt increased, but Virgil refused to give in. If he gave up now what was the last five hours for?

He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, dedication sculpting his face as he pressed down on the gas once again, racing down the highway, alone. His mind was manic, tears still flooding down his cheeks as his deep laughter echoed through the wind, screaming “FUCK YOU!” at the top of his lungs as he sped down the road. The thrill of driving had gotten to him, and he pressed down the pedal, jolting forwards a tiny bit in his seat as he began to roar down the highway.


	8. Uh Oh V.2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hell yeah im glad i got to finally start the redemption arc!!!
> 
> [[also!! virgils behaviour in this is not 'cool' or 'quirky' and its only partially portrayed that way because its from his POV!! he is in a manic episode and his behaviour is damaging himself and others!!! his behaviour isnt 'demented' or 'just in denial' either!! this situation is serious and he is in dire need of help as he is undergoing a severe manic episode!! he is unaware of that though which is why he describes his behaviour is described as 'godlike' and 'indestructable'!! please reach out and get help if you share these feelings of hypermania!!]]

Roman took a deep breath, knocking on Patton’s door. He’d spent the last hour spamming Virgil’s phone with apologies and begging him to change his mind, to come back, even if he never wanted to see Roman’s face again, and throughout it, he began to understand how Logan was feeling. Some of Virgil’s behaviour in the past had been extremely worrying, and he should’ve thought of that before he decided to kick him out.

“Come in!” Patton chirped from inside the room, revealed to be sat on the floor by his bed, headphones on, playing the DS he gripped tightly. “Roman? What’s wrong?” He tilted his head, noticing how sick Roman looked, and the red tinge to his eyes. He’d tried to splash his face with water to get rid of the tear tracks, but it just didn’t work.

“I- I…” Roman paused, stepping in, shutting the door behind him, voice dropping to a barely audible whisper, “Patton? Patton i don’t think we should have done that. We shouldn’t have,,,we shouldn't have done that, we shouldn't…” As his weak voice trailed off, he slid down the back of the door, hands shaking violently.

“Roman? What are you talking about?”

“Virgil- I- You- WE shouldn’t have- We shouldn’t have…We…” Roman could barely continue his sentence, guilt almost making him vomit for the second time in the last ten minutes.

“Roman, you don’t need to be worried. Virgil would never dare to file a lawsuit, and he’s just gone to his ‘boyfriends’ apartment, there’s nothing to fear,” Patton smiled innocently, head tilted like a begging puppy, eyes sparkling with innocence.

“No...No, you don’t- You don’t- Virgil he- He’s not at their apartment, he- no one knows- we’ve been trying to find him- He’s just left- and no one knows- I- Fuck!” Roman slammed his fists down onto the floor on either side of him. “We fucked up…”

“Breathe, and then try and speak,” Patton nodded, understanding, a sympathetic smile on his face. That only infuriated Roman. ~~He~~ \- no, THEY’d laughed at Virgil when he was sobbing, sheltering his face with his arms, but now, Roman crying because HE caused someone to run away was _understandable?_ Their hypocricy was hurting even his brain.

“Virgil’s not at their apartment. He’s run away. No one’s seen him for over five hours, and his phone’s shut off,” Roman visualised the words in his head, steadily whispering each one. The moment he finished his sentence, he felt like vomiting again. The truth hit him in the face. 

He’d helped the others with the makeshift search party, having to tag along with Logan because Remus had to be restrained from strangling his brother in the middle of the street. He’d seen Logan’s shattered expression grow more and more defeated each time they found yet another place. Logan snapped twenty minutes into the search party, screaming at Roman for being so bigoted about someone elses relationship that he drove them to literally go missing, and possibly be dead. 

Roman had stumbled backwards, sprinting back to their apartment, tears blinding his vision. He burst back into their apartment, and into Patton’s room, and that’s where they were now.

“...What?” Patton’s words came out weak, eyes glistening with tears.

Roman knew Patton used to be close with Virgil. Patton was the only one who knew how to stop Virgil from overworking himself, and the two would end up laying on the small balcony of their apartment on top of a blanket, staring up at the stars through the little glass shelter, and making shitty jokes until they drifted off. The two would make hot chocolate and sit on the floor in front of the TV watching movies until the sun came up every time either of them started drifting into a bad mood. He knew Patton used to see Virgil as a brother, and he knew that once Virgil had spent the holidays with Patton, as the two of them stayed on campus during the Christmas break. He also knew that Patton had confided in Virgil with ALL of his secrets, even the ones Roman didn't know. He knew the two were practically brothers, and it infuriated him that he and Patton had acted that way to someone they both considered a brother.

“He never ended up at Remus and Janus’ house. I was just with Logan in the fucking search party. We shouldn’t have fucking done that, we- I- we- no-” Roman’s words began jumbling again.

Patton’s face showed the exact moment it clicked in his brain, as the realisation dawned on him. “He…” Remorse was sculpted into his face, expression matching the sick one Roman wore. “We- We did this?”

It had been two hours since the texts now, and still another hour before he could pull off the highway. Well, he’d been driving slow, except for the highway, which he sped down, so he was only around three hours away from home. The messages never ceased though. Virgil had seen them all, read each and every one of them, detailing the places they’d looked in for Virgil, and how Logan was driving around, seeing if he could find him. Hell, even Roman had texted him, apologising and begging Virgil to at least let the others know he was okay, even if he didn’t want to see him ever again. 

Virgil noticed the facetimes increased, and the messages slowed. Every few seconds, the phone would shine, showing the call icon for their group chat.

The stress was increasing, and Virgil’s migraine pounded against his head, clawing into his brain. He’d counted the calls, and it was on the 138th that he’d picked up. He had to fight the urge to slam his head onto the steering wheel just to get it to stop, or to yank the wheel and laugh until he finally crashed. He decided those options would be too icky and bloody, although he knew he was god-like, so nothing would even happen, and that thought made his head gravitate towards the steering wheel, before he accidentally picked up the call, and jumped into talking mode.

The phone was laid on the dashboard, tilted slightly to show the road, so he simply leaned forwards and pressed the call button, hearing the sound of the calls connecting.

“Hi,” Virgil’s voice was hoarse and scratchy, deeper than usual as all of the energy drinks had burnt his throat. Despite having a horrific migraine, throbbing bruise and throat pain, he felt invincible, he felt like a god. “So...how are you guys?” He knew that if there wasn’t a part of his brain forcing him to talk nonstop, he’d be silently sobbing instead. The weak, broken feeling he’d felt when being cornered in the apartment had slowly melted into a god-like complex, and he felt tempted to smash the window just to show he was invincible.

“Worried to death! Holy shit, Virgil, are you okay? Where are you going?” Remus’ voice was thick with tears, and he immediately started speaking, words jumbling together due to the speed that he rushed out his sentences at.

“I don’t even fucking know at this point!” Virgil laughed, euphoria bubbling up inside him, he threw up his hands, letting go of the wheel. He felt as if he was riding a wave of happiness, which he knew didn’t align with the events prior, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care, his mind was racing a mile a minute and his thoughts seemed blurry as they zoomed past. Still, he felt like he was on the top of the world.

“Virgil, breathe, are you driving right now?” Janus spoke calmly and slowly, although his voice sounded hoarse, and Virgil could see tear tracks on his cheeks. The camera was pointed directly to the ceiling of the car, so he mistook Virgil’s laughter for crying.

“Of course I am! I mean, I just got into the car and I told myself ‘alright, just go for a drive to calm down, just a short drive, you know the way, you can do it, then you can come back and everything will be fine!’ and then I pulled onto the highway and I just decided, fuck it! Why not keep going?! See how long I can drive for before I inevitably break down and some serial killer finds me and I can just laugh at them, because of course they can’t hurt me! Have they met me!? I’m practically fucking God!” He wheezed as he laughed, hands half-way to his face, a shitty attempt at covering his laugh, letting go of the steering wheel, eyes shut tightly as he laughed.

There was silence on the other sides, and Virgil swore he could hear sniffles from Janus’ end. 

“Virgil, stop it, please. Please come home, please,” Remus begged, emotion leaking out of his voice. From the partially imparied view Virgil had of the camera, he could see Remus literally sobbing, camera blurry as tears dripped onto it.

“Home? What’s home?” Virgil laughed at his own joke, “I just got kicked out of mine! And in 90% sure that it was illegal to do that but oh well! They know I’m too much of a pussy to do any legal action, so it’s just me and my old half-broken fucking car on the middle of the highway for now!” He knew usually he’d be in their arms, sobbing his heart out or sleeping the day away, but instead, he was almost 4 hours away from home, laughing maniacally and feeling like god.

“You can stay with us! That can be your home! Just please come back, Virgil,” Janus’ calm demeanor snapped in two, and he joined in with Remus’ pleading. His usually deadpan face was twisted into sorrow, tears skimming down his scarred cheeks.

“Why would I?! I’ve been going for,” He paused, checking the time, “6 hours now, why stop?!” He double checked the time, ”6 hours?” he whistled, “Whooh! Good job me! You know, I’ve never been good with long drives, on my way to college for the first day, did you know I had 3 panic attacks in the car? Crazy, right? That was only a 2 hour drive, but I’ve been going for 6 hours and all I feel is adrenaline! I told you! I am literally God!”

“Virgil, listen to me, pull over at the side of the road, now. Turn on your location services, and we’ll come drive up there and get you,” Remus’ words were actually rational for once, but in Virgil's state, they flew right over his head.

“Why would you have to come get me?! I’m on top of the fucking world!” Virgil shouted, grinning and throwing his hands up, the wind whipping against them through the open roof. 

Janus paused, “You’re not in the right mind, Virgil, please just pull over, you don’t even have to turn on your location, just please stop driving for a moment,” he pleaded, the angled camera showing him the road practically flying by as Virgil sped across it, knowing he was going at least twice the speed limit.

Virgil couldn’t help but laugh, “Never! This is so fucking fun!” He took off his seatbelt, standing up in his seat and exposing his top half to the violent wind that whipped against him. He cheered from his place on the roof. “I’m invincible!” He boasted.

“Virgil, you’re not! You’re not! Please, please, please,” Remus’ voice broke off, and he couldn’t continue, so Janus took over for him on the other end of the call while Remus tilted his camera at the other side of the alley as he cried. 

“Virgil, listen to me, you are not invincible, I’m sorry, love, but it’s the truth. Please sit down, put on your seatbelt and pull over,” Janus’ words were interrupted by his own sniffles and sobs. 

“Why would I?! This is fucking awesome! Wooo!!!” Virgil laughed into the wind, arms outstretched.

“Please, love, I don’t want to call the cops, but I’ll have to if you keep risking your life,” Janus begged, and the sobbing on Remus’ end increased. “Virgil, please, listen to us!”

“You’ll call the cops about me just having a good time!?” Virgil cackled loudly, “Party pooper! I’m just celebrating being fucking excited for once! See!? Before I wouldn’t even get into a car for a long drive, now, I can stand up and let go of the steering wheel and take off my seatbelt and still be fine! I told you that I’m invincible! Plus, how would the cops find me anyway!? Didn’t think this one through, did ya?!” He snickered to himself.

“Virgil, how- how far away is the nearest turn?” Remus finally spoke, voice wobbly and face patchy as he came back into view.

“I dunno, like half an hour or something!? Why?!”

“I recognise that rundown shop there,” Remus spotted the remains of a shop that had burnt down years ago, “It’s only about 4 hours away. There’s a hotel not too far from there. Please, pull off, go stay in the hotel and wait for us to come and get you. Please,” Remus’ brain was running laps trying to form a plan that would work.

Virgil blew a raspberry, “Boring! No thanks!” 

“Janus, hold on, I’ll send you a text,” Remus spoke quietly, and a moment later, Janus seemed to be reading something off of his phone, and nodded subtly. Virgil was too caught up in the moment to notice.

**Author's Note:**

> [ https://youtu.be/43gvHOOrFSo ] this is the performance for janus and remus and this is the one for virgil [ https://youtu.be/hQeka-7k8bc ] that im referencing btw


End file.
